The present invention relates to a coffee maker and, more particularly, to a coffee maker having a mill mechanism wherein coffee is ground by the mill mechanism and hot water from a hot water supply mechanism is supplied to the ground coffee to extract brewed coffee therefrom.
There are two types of conventional coffee makers having such a mill mechanism. The first type of conventional coffee maker comprises a main body, a motor housing, and a jug stand. The motor housing and the jug stand are disposed at two sides of the lower portion of the main body. A mill motor is housed in the motor housing. A case housing is formed above the motor housing. A coffee mill/extraction case is disposed in the case housing. When the user wishes to make coffee, he places coffee beans in the coffee mill/extraction case and starts the motor, so that the coffee beans are ground by a cutter mounted on a rotating shaft of the motor. Hot water is then supplied from a hot water supply mechanism disposed in the main body to the coffee mill/extraction case, thereby extracting brewed coffee. The brewed coffee is then stored in a jug placed on the jug stand.
The second type of conventional coffee maker comprises a main body, a motor housing and a jug stand. The motor housing and the jug stand are disposed at two sides of the lower portion of the main body. A mill case is detachably disposed above the motor housing. When the user wishes to make coffee, he places coffee beans in the mill case so as to mill them by a cutter driven by a motor. The user then removes the mill case and puts the ground coffee in a coffee extractor above a jug which is placed on the jug stand. Hot water is then supplied from a hot water supply mechanism, thereby making coffee.
However, in the above conventional coffee makers, the jug stand and the motor housing, each having a large diameter, are disposed adjacent to each other below the main body. Both types of coffee maker thus have a large overall size and occupy a large space.
A coffee maker is disclosed in Japanese Patent Disclosure No. 56-68414 wherein a jug, a coffee extractor and a mill case are disposed along the height of the coffee maker and a motor is housed in the mill case. This coffee maker has a compact size and occupies a smaller space, thereby solving the problems of both the first and second conventional types of coffee maker. However, according to the coffee maker disclosed in Japanese Patent Disclosure No. 56-68414, the mill case is not detachably disposed with respect to the main body, and the motor is not fixed on the main body. Thus, the mill case cannot be removed from the main body to be cleaned, which means that old ground coffee is left in the mill case, thereby degrading the taste of subsequently brewed coffee and adversely affecting the motor. Furthermore, since the motor is not mounted on the main housing, the motor vibrates noisily during its operation.